America’s Stonehenge: A Classic Whodunit and Whydunit

The New York Times ^ | 11 Dec 2009 | JAY ATKINSON

[BGHater]

Salem, N.H. — At this leafless and gloomy time of year I traveled, in the spirit of the symbologist Robert Langdon of “The Da Vinci Code,” to America’s Stonehenge, in this town five miles from the Massachusetts border. Scholars have debated whether the stone cairns and chambers here were built by early American Indians, enterprising colonial settlers or, more controversially, a migrant European culture that visited these woods nearly 4,000 years ago.

Determined to plumb these mysteries, I arrived at a rustic information center and gift shop on a cold and gray Sunday morning. Inside I was greeted by the aptly named Dennis Stone, 55, a commercial airline pilot who along with his wife, Pat, 59, owns this unusual roadside attraction. (Dennis’s father, Robert E. Stone, 80, began leasing the site in 1958 and bought all 105 acres in 1965, saving it from possible development.)

A charming mix of prehistoric wonders, alpaca farming and kitsch, America’s Stonehenge is an oasis of eccentricity in an ever-growing world of carefully managed and manicured tourist spots.

“We don’t think it was a ‘habitat’ site,” said the stocky, bespectacled Mr. Stone. “Perhaps a shaman once stayed here, but primarily it’s a religious and astronomical site, a gathering place, like Stonehenge in England.”

The main site is a half-mile past the gift shop at the top of a small round hill. On the path leading up through a stand of ragged oak trees I’d arranged to meet Alan Hill, 68, a professor of astronomy at New Hampshire Technical Institute.

America's Stonehenge is in Salem, N.H. Scholars have debated whether the stone cairns and chambers here were built by early American Indians, enterprising colonial settlers or, more controversially, a migrant European culture that visited these woods nearly 4,000 years ago.

[blam]

Letter From Newfoundland: Homing In On The Red Paint People

[Justa]

These things are all over the place in the NE. There’s an anonymous one in south Deerfield, MA on the side of a forested mountain constructed with piles of rock with a pile of quartz rock as the sighting stone. They’re calendars and denote the presence of agriculture. Perhaps they’re native American but there’re no reports of natives using them.

[Vermont Lt]

I used to work right up behind the race track. Drove by this thing every day for three years. Never stopped in. It might be worth a day trip back to the old stomping grounds.

[SunkenCiv]

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	Gods Graves Glyphs	Thanks BGHater. It's a cool site, I've walked up there. The hilltop has "fences" laid out Euro-maze style, and in the 1990s a hearth inside the "colonial rootcellar" section radiocarbon dated to 2000 BC. Heh heh. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
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[catnipman]

Of course, everyone here has to bear in mind that, after all, this is an article appearing in the New York Times, and therefore has a reasonable probability of simply being a completely fabricated fictional article being presented as if it’s fact! For example, there’s probably only about a 50-50 chance that a place called “New Hampshire” even exists, given the New York Time’s past record of factual accuracy.

[colorado tanker]

I’m with you, aliens. Prolly a temporary shelter built by a Vulcan jonesing on his pon farr. Must have heard the Native American chicks were hot.

[Little Bill]

I lived about five miles from there in Mass and have been there several times. The place is close to a bend in the Merrimack River and was quarried to build Lawrence.

I don't think that there has been a serious dig there for ages.

[colorado tanker]

Since you've seen it, any clues as to who may have built it?

[Little Bill]

Most of it, whats left, is dry layed stone. There are several trenches with an "Altar" with what looks like blood grooves. But the site is confused, what ever it is it ain't Injun. If you look at a map of the Merrimack River from Newburyport to Lawrence the site lies at the intersection of Methuen, Haverhill, and Salem, NH. The river has been dammed and the course changed in that area. Main drainage area for central NH.

One of the problems is that there has never been a real Archaeological survey of the area, mainly because of the Noble Redman problem and the people that own the site.

It is an interesting place to go and it is different, but until some people loose their attitude it is GGG speculation.

[ApplegateRanch]

and in the 1990s a hearth inside the "colonial rootcellar" section radiocarbon dated to 2000 BC.

Too bad Barry Fell died before that was discovered about the site.

Then, again, the Lamestream Scientificists would just claim that he or somebody from ESOP planted the charcoal.

I made the mistake of loaning my copy of America BC to a coworker who was a rabid scientifundy, and never got it back.

One of my life regrets is that I arrived in Hatch, NM 2 or 3 weeks AFTER he had made a visit to the same person (now also deceased) I was stopping to see about a series of petroglyph articles he had written. Doctor Fell died soon after, so I never got to meet him.

Our pastor knew, liked, and respected both of those men; and did some field work with both.

[SunkenCiv]

That is too bad. I traded a couple of letters with him, and he was always gracious and informative.

Barraclough also investigated Mystery Hill (as it was called at one time), a few years before I visited it, and the carved image he’d identified inside the structure was already protected with plastic (this was, hmm, late 1970s? early 1980s?).

[SunkenCiv]

http://www.stonehengeusa.com/

[editor-surveyor]

Looks like the thermostat out of my old pickup!

[sonic109]

Excellent book , read it years ago.

[bert]

I recently visited America's Stonehenge in odessa.... Odessa Texas that is

[colorado tanker]

There are several trenches with an "Altar" with what looks like blood grooves.

That doesn't sound Native American, at least not U.S. What a shame P.C. crap keeps us from doing good archeology right here at home.

[Little Bill]

One of the problems is that this area has been farmed for all most 400 years. I would not be surprised that early farmers found many things that we would value today and built a wall with it.

I think that the whole area from the Sacco River to the Merrimack needs to be surveyed could be interesting.